MTB epic series - Wales

Long shot but anybody here thinking or doing this:

I’m really interested in the marathon/multi day type MTB events I see overseas like Leadville, BC bike race, Breck Epic but there’s not a great deal in the UK.

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I’ve only had experience in their Port 2 Port race in Australia. It was a very well organised event and I’ll be participating again once circumstances allow.

Thanks, good to know.

I’ll probably enter and see what it’s like. I wish there was more options but they don’t seem that popular in the uk. There’s a great article on it on bikeperfect

Nice! I look forward to hearing how it goes.
If it’s anything like the event they organised down here you’ll be in for some great trails and stunning scenery.
Enjoy!

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Hope so…I also hope it gets enough people to attend

Me and a friend were looking at it but the entry price is too much right now (not suggesting it isn’t good value necessarily, haven’t looked at it enough to form an opinion).

Yes, I could see it being a blocker for a lot of people, I’m interested still but will have to forgo other things like eating and electricity through the winter :wink: but yes, a high price for a leisure activity

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I love the idea, but the price of Team entry is more than my mountain bike cost, so suspect I’m not the target audience :rofl:

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You can always revert to consuming pure sugar and keeping the house warm with indoor WO’s. :rofl:

They’re expensive events compared to many. I figured I’d not mention that because everyone has a different threshold.
Financial Threshold Power is another beast altogether.

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Someone might want to tell them that it’s illegal in England and Wales to race a bicycle on bridleways. You can’t even apply to the secretary of state for an exemption, that’s even written into the legislation:

31 Regulation of cycle racing on public ways (this includes footpaths and bridleways)

(1)A person who promotes or takes part in a race or trial of speed on a public way between cycles is guilty of an offence, unless the race or trial—

(a)is authorised, and
(b)is conducted in accordance with any conditions imposed, by or under regulations under this section.

(2)The Secretary of State may by regulations authorise, or provide for authorising, for the purposes of subsection (1) above, the holding on a public way other than a bridleway—

(a)of races or trials of speed of any class or description, or
(b)of a particular race or trial of speed,

in such cases as may be prescribed and subject to such conditions as may be imposed by or under the regulations.

The timed sections could be in trail centres with the public RoWs being simple transit routes in which case it would be OK. It’s not clear from the site if that’s the case.

I do an MTB “event” in Mid-Wales and the organiser got told off for it being a race so now he doesn’t publish any timings or have a “winner”, there’s no mass start - you get to leave whenever you want in a two hour window. Last year because of Covid it was even more low key, you could do it whenever you wanted in the month of October but you were asked not to post the route up on Strava, etc.

As for cost: given the way accommodation prices are going in the UK at the moment, three nights in a hotel will probably come to nearly a grand! Someone’s promoting a four day marathon event in Scotland, each night under canvas, for £15,000 :flushed: That really is way out of my pay scale.

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Yeah, I just don’t have a good feel for the typical price for this type of multiday thing, partly because as above there aren’t many of these around in the UK. Which I guess justifies some kind of premium in itself.

I’m supposed to be moving house next year so forking out £450 each for that is probably not going to go down well (and I just bought a new MTB…).

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You could camp, plenty of campsites up there… tenner a night :smiley:

And yeah I saw that trail running one. Apparently trail running is popular with tech bros these days?

£900 for a race?! No ta.

We’re heading up to Scotland next month for a week or so. Glamping (camping in a shed as my wife calls it) is £75 a night.

From an industry perspective you’re probably exactly the person…to get you hooked

Yes, this type of thing doesn’t make it onto the hierarchy of needs….certainly not near the bottom anyway. Eating and warmth are overrated anyway

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I camped 3 nights in Yorkshire the other week for the Rapha Prestige and it was £10.50pppn… and I thought that was fairly steep.

For some price comparison, the Tour of Wessex is a 3 day road sportive of 330 miles, thats VERY well run, major HQ with facilities, good feed stations, Shimano mechanics, mobile support & outriders etc. £150pp.

You can camp onsite I believe but no accom included obviously.

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How many people participated in that event? £150 ×?

The XCM events I’ve done tend to be much smaller field sizes IME. Economies of scale and all that.
I’m not going to pretend that this race isn’t an expensive outing. Although, I do wonder how many of the better value events manage to survive.

The price is a little silly - but guess it is the Cape Epic affiliation and I think it is a qualifier race.

I also find it annoying that it is a team only event. I get why - again because of Cape Epic. But I prefer racing as a solo.

I am surprised we don’t have more longer / stage events in the UK. We tend to have more hours / lap style events. Maybe it is because so much land is privately owned?